This project explores the idea of creating wildlife habitat using vacant lots in the densely built inner city of Budapest, Hungary. I selected six species to study and focus on throughout the project, all of which are characteristic to the region. These animals – western honey bee, common blackbird, great tit, European robin, red squirrel and northern white-breasted hedgehog – are all currently present in the two nearby large parks, but are absent in the inner city. Humans and the urban environment, being a human dominated environment, are commonly seen as separate from nature. My project is critiquing this denaturalized view of the urban environment and aims to have a renaturalizing effect on the city. Therefore the intention of the project is to educate people about the idea that nature does not only exist outside of urban, human dominated environments. This project can be understood as an experiment in making pockets of nature in the city that is co-produced by humans and selected non-human others, thereby highlighting the fact that the urban environment is habitat for not only humans, but many other species.
